Is there anything like an iPod touch?

[CJ Master]

I want an mp3 player, and something that has a good marketplace where I can get decent games on. I'd prefer for it to also work on Ubuntu (but this is not a direct requirement.) It also must be cheaper then an iPod. What it must NOT have is an annual fee I must pay (such as a smartphone.)

I was considering a Zune HD, but I hear the marketplace is very small. What say you?

[suprman2020]

You can get one of Archos tablet thingies. They've been hacked to get access to Android Market. If price is a problem, couldn't you just buy a used or refurbished iPod Touch?

[ki4jgt]

I have $100 dollars. I've been wanting an Ipod touch. Can I get one that cheap?

[CJ Master]

You can get one of Archos tablet thingies. They've been hacked to get access to Android Market. If price is a problem, couldn't you just buy a used or refurbished iPod Touch?

That archos tablet sounds interesting... but really, how much horsepower do those $100 or around that things have? And is it mp3 player size? (Can't tell from photos.)

Honestly, I don't want to get a used ipod touch. Refurbished I wouldn't mind as much but they really aren't that much cheaper.

Any other opinions?

[3rdalbum]

You could get a prepaid phone and then chuck out the SIM card. The HTC Wildfire, or the Huweaii Droid.

[AllRadioisDead]

That archos tablet sounds interesting... but really, how much horsepower do those $100 or around that things have? And is it mp3 player size? (Can't tell from photos.)

Honestly, I don't want to get a used ipod touch. Refurbished I wouldn't mind as much but they really aren't that much cheaper.

Any other opinions?

horsepower (http://tinyurl.com/2uvgcok)?

[Kalimol]

iPod Touch is supported in Ubuntu, since Apple did the very un-Apple thing of releasing their MTP standard and since, as I understand it, everything else can be handled by UMS. I'm very seriously considering getting one for various reasons. The Archos bit is interesting, though - I was totally unaware.

The cheapest Touch is $229, though. I mean ... maybe you could just save up a bit longer? Maybe the software isn't as open as Android, but the hardware is going to be better than anything cheaper or, you know, not Apple.

Edit: Looking at Archos, you'd need at least the Archos 5 to have the full marketplace, and it's all open and Linuxy, but it's the same price as the iPod Touch, so that doesn't help. The Archos 32 is cheap, but it doesn't do games - it has its own separate app store because its capabilities won't work for a lot of Android apps, because, for instance, its touch screen isn't multitouch.

[Kalimol]

I'm going to bump this thread to hijack it, if CJ's alright with that. = )

As I said, I'm in a similar place for different reasons - I don't have any interest in gaming, but there are a lot of legitimate productivity apps out there. I want to find a pocket computer with a decent camera, multitouch, and full support of either Android or Apple's market, specifically for Skype, Autodesk's Sketchbook Mobile, and any of a number of MS Office compatible document editors (because I doubt I'll find one that saves straight to .odt.) I also want to use it as a music and media player, but I don't need a lot of storage space - any video I'd be watching on it would be streamed. All of the software is readily available on either platform, but even the flash-memory-based version of the Archos 5, which is otherwise perfect, doesn't have a camera.

Is iPod touch my best option, assuming that I don't mind the workarounds for syncing?

[CJ Master]

Thanks for the answers everybody! In the end, I decided to get an 8GB iPod touch. I'm sure I won't regret it. :)

And AllRadioIsDead, LMGTFY is not welcome here. I had spent hours researching this and was asking for opinions of the people here, not for a sarcastic redirect.

Kalimol, I do think that if you want multitouch then an iPod is your best bet. Although I'm not sure how "productive" you can be with a screen that small. It actually sounds like and iPad, but if you want to get one I'd wait until 2nd gen for a camera.

[ki4jgt]

iPod Touch is supported in Ubuntu, since Apple did the very un-Apple thing of releasing their MTP standard and since, as I understand it, everything else can be handled by UMS. I'm very seriously considering getting one for various reasons. The Archos bit is interesting, though - I was totally unaware.

The cheapest Touch is $229, though. I mean ... maybe you could just save up a bit longer? Maybe the software isn't as open as Android, but the hardware is going to be better than anything cheaper or, you know, not Apple.

Edit: Looking at Archos, you'd need at least the Archos 5 to have the full marketplace, and it's all open and Linuxy, but it's the same price as the iPod Touch, so that doesn't help. The Archos 32 is cheap, but it doesn't do games - it has its own separate app store because its capabilities won't work for a lot of Android apps, because, for instance, its touch screen isn't multitouch.

The Archos 28 is $99.99 http://store.archos.com

[forrestcupp]

The Archos 28 is $99.99 http://store.archos.com

Yeah, that's probably the closest thing. It has a smaller screen though. I'm glad they came out with a small one that has an accelerometer. I wonder if its touch screen is capacitive or resistive.

I don't think you'll be disappointed in your ipod touch. None of the knock-offs are going to quite measure up. If you got one of the new models, it can even shoot HD video that is extremely good quality. I'd rather have a good Android tablet than an iPad, but when it comes to this type of device, I'd just go with the iPod touch.

[ki4jgt]

Yeah, that's probably the closest thing. It has a smaller screen though. I'm glad they came out with a small one that has an accelerometer. I wonder if its touch screen is capacitive or resistive.

I don't think you'll be disappointed in your ipod touch. None of the knock-offs are going to quite measure up. If you got one of the new models, it can even shoot HD video that is extremely good quality. I'd rather have a good Android tablet than an iPad, but when it comes to this type of device, I'd just go with the iPod touch.

Don't have the money. Would rather have the GPS one but again, money makes the world go round :-)

[init1]

The Archos 28 is $99.99 http://store.archos.com
I ordered one last week and it arrived yesterday. It's OK, but not nearly as good as the iPod Touch. It's a lot slower, and the screen is less responsive. It can install apps though, which makes it somewhat useful.

[ssri]

I ordered one last week and it arrived yesterday. It's OK, but not nearly as good as the iPod Touch. It's a lot slower, and the screen is less responsive. It can install apps though, which makes it somewhat useful.
Sometimes you get what you pay for.

[ki4jgt]

Sometimes you get what you pay for.

Yeah, but sometimes you don't mind getting what you paid for. I mean, think about it, I buy a brand new computer for $100 bucks 160 gig hard drive 1 gig ram blah blah blah you get the rest.

Then you buy a $500 computer 1TB hard drive, 8 gigs RAM, plays games even has a newly marketed processor in it (128 gig)

If I want to just do web surfing, and play a few games, I don't need all the bells and whistles. If you're a major gaming freak, you're fine. It just depends on what you need the hardware to do. That doesn't give someone the right to buy something just because it's cheaper, just to read up on it and review it.

[scotty416]

Check this out!

It looks to be just what you were looking for...

http://www.samsunghub.com/2010/12/27/samsung-confirms-galaxy-player-will-showcase-at-ces-2011/

[Kalimol]

YES. Mine. I'm so bloody glad I waited on the Touch. I don't think I would have forgiven myself for buying it just months before the Linux equivalent was released.

And thank you so much for posting this. = )

[sprocket10]

Check this out!

It looks to be just what you were looking for...

http://www.samsunghub.com/2010/12/27/samsung-confirms-galaxy-player-will-showcase-at-ces-2011/

That's pretty sweet! I've been wanting something like that for a while. Don't have the $$ for it at the moment however.

What I'd REALLY like to see come about is some device (like this one or Archos) that has teleco. apps for service. So, since I live in the States, if I want Verizon service I can run my Verizon app and sign up for certain services: phone service, data plan, whatever. I suppose it could use some kind of SIM card, which is rare but exists in the US.

What do you guys think?

[Kalimol]

Like a prepaid smartphone?

[sprocket10]

I guess you could think of it that way. My train of thought was centered around making cell service an addition to a personal device, instead of the norm here of making cellular devices that add-on extras (like music support).

[Kalimol]

It just seems like a fairly limited demographic. The iPad is marketed that way because it's not particularly convenient as a phone, so the data plan really is secondary. On the other side of things, anything running Android is reasonably a pocket computer first and anything else second, functionally, no matter what we call them, but whether it's a tech toy or a business necessity, it's generally owned by someone who can afford a phone plan.

On that note, too, there's a clear division there - anything running iOS, Android, or Symbian is in a rather different category from anything else, isn't it? Phones with music players or simple browsers seem like a completely different thing. I don't think of proper smart phones as a phone with other things added. I don't think most of their users do, either. They tend to be, first and foremost, Facebook machines, at the very least. = )

And marketing-wise, it doesn't seem to work - PDAs became Blackberries and they've been phones ever since. = )